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Deposition of Ti6Al4V using a high power diode laser and wire, Part I:
Investigation on the process characteristics
Sui Him Mok, Guijun Bi , Janet Folkes, Ian Pashby
Innovative Manufacturing Processes Group, School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering,
University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2RD, UK
Received 24 September 2007; accepted in revised form 4 February 2008
Available online 20 February 2008
Abstract
In this paper the deposition of Ti6Al4V wire with High Power Diode Laser was investigated by producing single tracks. The effect of the
wire feeding direction and angle was firstly studied. The influence of laser power, traverse speed and wire feed rate on the weight and dimension
of the deposited single tracks was then investigated. The microstructure and hardness of the single tracks were examined. Deposition with diode
laser and wire was proved to provide a high deposition rate with good quality. Columnar grains were found in the deposits. Wire feeding
orientation, laser power, traverse speed and wire feed rate were verified as factors which influenced the quality of the deposit. With similar energy
level, different power/traverse speed produced deposits with different hardness value. Hardness values tended to increase from the deposit, via the
re-melted zone till to the heat affected zone, and then decrease again when the measurements were taken in the unaffected base material.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 81.15.Fg
Keywords: Deposition; Diode laser; Ti6Al4V
1. Introduction
Direct metal deposition with laser has been verified as a
promising process for surface modification, repair and component building [1,2]. Recently, further studies have been carried
out to explore the feasibility of applying this process in the aerospace industry [36]. The surface cladding can be used to
generate a thin functional layer on the surface of the component
made by cost-effective material. The material of the clad layer
is different from the base material, which can provide high temperature corrosion and wear resistance. For the application of
the metal deposition process, a high deposition rate or volume is
required. The components produced should also have the same
properties and functions as ones made by conventional methods.
In the development stage, traditionally, the components are
made by stock removal method, forging or casting, such as,
precision sand casting and investment casting. However, when
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: biguijun@gmail.com (G. Bi).
0257-8972/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2008.02.008
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Table 1
Composition of the Ti6Al4V
Element
Ti
Al
Fe
Si
Weight %
Bal.
6.01
3.84
0.3
0.15
0.10
0.15
0.15
alloy wire with diode laser is a promising research area. However, most of the researches focused on the deposition with Tialloy powders [36,17,18].
The aim of this project is to get an insight into the process
characteristics in an attempt to understand the property, structure and process interaction associated with the direct diode
laser deposition with wire feeding of Ti6Al4V. Deposit
quality and deposition rate will also be investigated. Parameters
will be optimised. The main properties of the deposit including
the microstructure, micro-hardness will be investigated.
2. Experimental procedure
2.1. Experimental setup
The experimental system comprises a 2.5 kW Rofin DL025
diode laser with beam delivery system, wire feeding apparatus
(wire feeder and feeding head Planetics 501) and computer numerically controlled (CNC) table for 4 motions: horizontal motion
(x axis and y axis), vertical motion (z axis) and rotational motion
(A axis). In addition, the system also includes a cooling system
(top and base cooling plates), a camera system for process observation and video capture, a chamber filled with Argon and a
Dansensor (oxygen sensor). The laser beam was set in the focal
length of 85 mm along the z axis and with the beam size of
2 mm 7 mm in focus. Fig. 1 shows the schematics of the
experimental set-up and the wire feeding orientations.
2.2. Materials
Ti6Al4V is the most common titanium alloy used in the
aerospace industry. Such an alloy presents a relatively high
strength up to 300 C and is ideal for welding. In this work 1.2 mm
Ti6Al4V wire was deposited onto 10 mm Ti6Al4V plates.
The chemical composition of the material is shown in Table 1.
2.3. Arrangement of the experiments
Fig. 1. Schematics of the experimental setup and the wire feeding orientations.
S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939
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Fig. 2. Weight of the deposit at different angles grouped by the same feeding direction.
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Fig. 4. Photos of the surface and cross-section of the single track deposited by side feeding.
Further experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of the laser power and traverse speed on the dimen-
S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939
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Fig. 7. Cross-section of the single tracks deposited with different set of parameters.
Fig. 9. Dimension of the single tracks deposited with different set of parameters.
3.4. Micro-structure
Fig. 10 shows that all the deposits possess a columnar structure.
The grains in the deposit grew directionally from the outer surface
towards the centre of the melt pool. The cooling direction dictated
the grain structure. Heat conduction through the base plate dominated the cooling effect compared with cooling via the deposit
surface and the base plate through radiation and convection. The
heat conduction in the deposit was slow, compared to the re-melted
and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). Therefore, large size columnar
grains grew parallel to the cooling direction, as shown in Fig. 10a,
c and e. The grain size ranges from a few hundred microns to
several millimeters depending on different laser power and
traverse speed. On the other hand, the materials in the re-melted
zone and HAZ were cooled down quickly by conduction. Fig. 10b,
d and f shows the microstructures of these two regions. The grains
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S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939
Table 2
Dependence of the deposit angle on the traverse speed and laser power
Laser power
Power = 2.06 kW
Power = 1.65 kW
Power = 1.2 kW
50
100
150
200
250
Left
Right
Left
Right
Left
Right
98
92
96
88
56
60
68
62
61
60
49
51
47
46
42
48
33
36
35
36
34
38
33
31
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